


war is not freedom

by LJF



Series: we all want love/we all want honor [17]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Minor Aang/Katara, No Dialogue, POV Aang (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protectiveness, Timeline What Timeline, idek, or something, tell don't show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27030922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LJF/pseuds/LJF
Summary: On the way to Ba Sing Se, Aang, Katara, and Sokka got blown off course, and were reunited with an old friend.(Sokka hadopinionsabout this.)
Relationships: Aang & Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: we all want love/we all want honor [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936222
Comments: 22
Kudos: 231





	war is not freedom

**Author's Note:**

> This whole (short) chapter was originally just going to be part of a future chapter, but it didn't really _fit_. It's important for future plot, so I couldn't just cut it out. In the end, I decided to just post it as its own work. I don't love how it turned out, so I might come back and re write it at some point.

_"Should I ask myself in the water, what a warrior would do?"_

_\- Christina Aguilera, "Loyal Brave True"_

After escaping Wan Shi Tong's library, Sokka had decided they needed to head _directly_ to Ba Sing Se. Aang had protested, knowing he still needed an earthbending teacher, but Sokka and Katara had _both_ thought he'd have no trouble finding a suitable teacher _somewhere_ in the walled city.

(Aang didn't _want_ to go to Ba Sing Se. The things the monks had said...... well, that was one place he _hoped_ had changed in the past hundred years.)

The information Sokka had gotten from that calendar _had_ to be delivered to the Earth King so he could supply them with troops for the invasion. (And didn't _that_ just send shivers down Aang's spine. It was one thing to free captured earthbenders or push back a siege, but an _invasion_? The Air Nomads had raised him to take the path of _nonviolence_. _Invading_ another country was just about the _opposite_ of that.) (He didn't bother saying anything to Sokka-- the older boy would probably say that the Fire Nation had killed _his_ people in an invasion, but that wouldn't make it better. Revenge was a two-headed rat-viper Aang did _not_ want near him.)

So they'd flown off-- and then immediately been thrown off course by an _awful_ storm and ended up stuck in the forest near Gaipan. (Thankfully, nowhere _near_ Jet's camp, none of them wanted to run into _him_ anytime soon.)

They'd taken shelter in a cave, only to find that it was _already_ occupied-- by _Suki_ , of all people. (Aang hadn't recognized her with her make-up off.) They hadn't been the only one thrown off course by the storm; apparently she'd gone to meet the other Kyoshi warriors for a training session before the rain had gotten to her.

Katara had been _super_ excited to see her-- if the Kyoshi warriors were around, maybe they would be able to help with the invasion! (Or so the waterbender claimed-- Aang suspected she was mostly just glad for some female company after spending so much time around him and Sokka.)

Sokka had _not_ liked that idea. He and Suki had spent the _entire_ _day_ arguing about it. He said it was _way_ too dangerous, she told him she could take care of herself, and Aang had _tried_ (with little success) to mediate between the two of them.

Sokka said it wasn't safe, and Suki said that he didn't respect her skills as a warrior (which Aang _knew_ wasn't true), and when they'd all gone to bed, Aang thought their friendship seemed so damaged that he feared they might never speak again.

But then he'd heard them talking after they'd thought he'd fallen asleep, and Sokka mentioned Yue, and Aang had felt just _horrible_ , he hadn't realized his friend was suffering so much when the whole thing had been _his_ fault for not saving the Moon Spirit in time. (What kind of Spirit Bridge _was_ he?)

The next morning, the sky had been clear and Suki had gone off to find the other warriors, and Sokka had told her he'd be honored to fight by her side when the invasion came, and her eyes had lit up and she'd _grabbed_ his face and--

Aang had looked away, knowing the moment was meant to be private.

(He'd stomped down the tiny hint of jealousy he felt at the other boy's luck. Sokka had already managed to get _two_ girlfriends, and Aang couldn't even figure out how to tell Katara how he felt.)

But after that, they'd _finally_ managed to reach Ba Sing Se-- only to be nearly shot down. There were _rules_ in Ba Sing Se, people couldn't just come _flying into the city_ on _giant fluffy monsters_ , blablabla.

Eventually, they were allowed in, as long as they left Appa _outside_ of the main city. Aang had _not_ liked that idea, but Sokka and Katara had pointed out that his bison would still be _inside_ the wall, and he could fly off to see him whenever he wanted, and they _needed_ to get to the upper ring.

And now they were here, in the heart of the biggest city in the world, with that creepy Joo Dee watching over their every move. All they had to do now was get an audience with the Earth King and find Aang a teacher. Couldn't be too hard, right?

_"Will I be stronger, or will I be weak, when you're not with me?"_

_\- Christina Aguilera, "Loyal Brave True"_

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Appa didn't get bison-napped, so Aang and co _also_ got to Ba Sing Se earlier than planned. We'll see how that changes things.
> 
> Note that this is _not_ the same forest the warriors found Appa in in canon. The woods near Gaipan are right next to Full Moon Bay, so it made sense that Suki and the others would go there to train. (Yes, I did use a contrived deus ex machina storm to make sure Sokka & Suki could still hook up, so what?)
> 
> Yell at me on [tumblr](https://ljf613.tumblr.com/).


End file.
